In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants (1913)

Record Details:

Title:
In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants
Date:
1913
Publisher:
New York, Appeal Printing Co.
Volume:
In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants : record volume 4
Leaf #:
000393
Language:
English
Collection:
Early Cinema and Government & Law
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
These seven volumes contain the testimonies and supporting documents from the U.S. District Court's antitrust lawsuit against the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC). Formed in 1908, the MPPC (sometimes referred to asœ"the Edison Trust" or just "the Trust") sought to control the American film industry through pooling patents and demanding that producers and exhibitors acquire licenses to those patents. Independent producers and exhibitors, who refused to license the patents, argued that the MPPC was an unlawful monopoly. In 1912 and 1913, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania heard testimonies from both MPPC members, such as Siegmund Lubin, and "Independents" who later became Hollywood moguls, such as William Fox. Ultimately, in 1915, the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which found the MPPC in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and spelled the end for the already weakening MPPC. -- Eric Hoyt, 2012
Date Added:
July 25, 2024
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Ike Van Ronkbl, Cross Examination. 2243 A. The trade. I find out what they want, and we buy them, and what they don't want, we don't buy. Q. Now, to what extent is the exhibitor at liberty to select his own program in your territory? A. All of our exhibitors select their own program. We sell them age. Q. What is your system of booking? A. Why, we book individually with each customer. For instance, we will give him a ten, or a thirty, or a six-day reel. We don't tell him what it will be, and he comes in and picks out the reel he wants, ten days old, and it may be a drama, and he picks out a thirty-day reel, and it may be a comedy, and he picks out a ten-day reel, and it may be a war drama, or a Western. He does his own selecting. A few country exhibitors, who do not come in, we send the booking to in advance. They say they will run Pathe on Tuesday, and such and such a picture on Friday, and a special feature on Saturday, and we select them according to his request, and make them a booking, and send it to them, and if they see something they don't like, if they will call us up by telephone or notify us by letter, we change it to suit them. We cater after the business and we try to please them. Cross examination by Mr. Grosvenor: Q. Mr. Van Konkel, do you have any interest in any theatres exhibiting motion pictures? A. I have not, sir. Q. When did you start in the business, the motion picture business? A. The latter part of 1905 or the beginning of 1906. Q. You went in with a small expenditure of money, of capital? A. In the theatre or film business? Q. I say, in the motion picture business? A. I had plenty of capital when I went in — I didn't need it to invest. We used store shows, and we rented a store and paid sixty dollars a month, and I think the cost to me was $1,650 to equip about four theatres. Q. And when was that? A. The latter part of 1905, December. We opened it, I believe, in January, on January 6 th. Q. Had your investments in the motion picture business proved profitable from 1906 down to 1909? A. I was an exhibitor in 1906, and I went into the exchange business